NCAA Announces Select FBS Teams With Losing Record to Be Allowed to Play in Bowl Games
The 2015-16 NCAA FBS postseason will see a record amount of bowl games played during December and January. Counting the College Football Playoff semi-final games, there will be a total of 40 bowl games. However, there won't be enough teams that finish with at least a (6-6) record to fill all the games.
The NCAA on Monday announced the procedure that will be used to fill the final bowl slots.
... a one-time process in which the Division I Football Oversight Committee will identify teams, with a (5-7) record, with the highest Academic Progress Rates to bring the total of eligible bowl teams to 80 or 81. The APR scores used will be from the 2013-14 academic year, the most recent year for which the scores are publicly available.
According to the NCAA, entering the final week of regular season play, 75 teams, five short of the 80 needed, have met the required six wins for bowl eligibility. Three teams remain on the bubble of bowl eligibility: Kansas State University, Georgia State University and the University of South Alabama. They could also reach their sixth victories this weekend (December 6).
One five-loss team has already announced they will not play in a bowl game, the Missouri Tigers. The NCAA's APR list for five-loss teams can be read below.
Kansas State (5-6) hosts West Virginia (7-4) on Saturday, December 5th, for their final game of the regular season.
The current Academic Progress Rate scores for teams with five wins are:
• Nebraska (985)
• Kansas State (976)
• Missouri (976)
• Minnesota (975)
• San Jose State (975)
• Illinois (973)
• Rice (973)
Big 12 teams bowl eligible are: Oklahoma (11-1), Oklahoma State (10-2), TCU (10-2), Baylor (9-2), West Virginia and Texas Tech (7-5).
College Football Playoff and bowl game match-ups will be announced on Sunday, December 6th.